Shell starts gradual withdrawal of staff from Russia

Shell Plc started to withdraw staff from its joint ventures with Russia’s Gazprom PJSC, Report informs, referring to Bloomberg.

Dozens of Shell employees on temporary assignment at the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas export project in Russia were removed over the weekend to be relocated back to other offices, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

London-based Shell has increased its effort to distance itself from Moscow after the company came under fire in early March for purchasing Russian crude at a steep discount. Since then, Shell said it won’t make any new purchases of Russian oil or gas. The energy major has also idled LNG vessels chartered from Russian companies.

Shell also owns a 50% of stake in the Salym Petroleum Development in Russia. The company previously said it would end an exploration partnership with Gazprom called Gydan, and withdraw from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was already suspended by German authorities.